Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck is an anthropomorphic duck who first appeared in the 1940 short Mr. Duck Steps Out. She is the girlfriend of Donald Duckand best friend of Minnie Mouse. Daisy has Donald's temper, but has far greater control of it and tends to be more sophisticated unlike her boyfriend. Background Personality Basically, Daisy is shown to be a loving and caring girlfriend; always there for Donald, but always having the tendency to nag in an attempt to change his ways for the better. She has faith that her boyfriend is a good person despite his flaws, and uses their relationship as a means to better Donald's health and well-being, specifically in regards to his temper. She has even been known to hype Donald up to Minnie and the others. Even so, Daisy has been guilty of unleashing the same kind of rage on Donald, when he upsets her in some way. In later years, Daisy's personality was expanded, evolving from a mere high maintenance female version of Donald, to a fun-loving, and fashion-forward diva. Compared to rest of the classic Disney cast, Daisy is rather worldly and contemporary, both in how she behaves and even down to the way she speaks. She enjoys fashion and shopping above all else and, although well-bred and sophisticated when she wants to be, can be a bit eccentric and overbearing at times, specifically when paired with the more demure Minnie, the two serving as foils. Daisy's bombastic and talkative nature tends to annoy her friends, who sometimes feel suffocated by her presence. She is extroverted and enjoys spending time with her friends, sometimes having a difficult time suppressing her excitement when she socializes with them. Still, as mentioned, Daisy is well-bred, and is generally level-headed and mature, especially when needing to balance out the more cartoony hijinks of the others. Like Donald, she has a love for attention. This is most notably seen in House of Mouse, where Daisy was obsessed with getting a chance to perform at the club. Unlike Donald, who stooped to underhanded deeds to steal the spotlight from Mickey, Daisy was determined to earn her stardom, believing her "big break" should be based solely on her talents, and was heartbroken when Donald (albeit well-intentionally) tried to pay Mickey to get Daisy to perform. Daisy can, however, feel envious toward others that have the attention she craves. For example, when Minnie became the apparent starlight of an ice-skating show, Daisy's obsession with the spotlight drove her to attempt to sabotage Minnie's performance. In spite of this, to Daisy, friendship is more important than fame. After her schemes nearly injured Minnie, Daisy apologized for her selfish behavior and admitted to her shortcomings. In "Daisy's Debut", Daisy was finally given a chance to perform on stage in a duet with Mickey, but after realizing Minnie was longing for quality time with her boyfriend, Daisy willingly dropped out so that Minnie would take her place, proving that she can be selfless and even sacrificial. Physical appearance Daisy is a white duck with an orange bill, legs, and feet. She usually has sultry lavender eye shadow, long distinct eyelashes, and ruffled feathers around her lowest region to suggest a skirt. She's usually seen sporting a blouse with puffed short sleeves and a V-neckline. She also wears a matching bow, heeled shoes and a single bangle on her wrist. The colors of her clothes change very often, but her signature colors are usually purple and pink. The television series Quack Pack gave Daisy Duck a more mature wardrobe and hairstyle and cast her as a career woman with a television reporter job. House of Mouse got her a blue and purple employee uniform, with a blue bow, and a long ponytail. In Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Daisy regained her purple blouse with a purple bow and shoes. She also wears a gold bangle and has a short ponytail, similar to the longer one seen in House of Mouse. In the new Mickey Mouse animated TV series, Daisy wears her trademark blouse in a pink and matching bow. She also sports a pair of white boots with pink daisy designs on the outer sides of them. Family Daisy's parents and three little brothers appeared in Donald's Diary. Also, she has three nieces called April, May, and June (the female counterparts to Huey, Dewey, and Louie), who were created by Carl Barks and made their debut in Flip Decision (Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #149). In the same story, Daisy visits her sister, the mother of her nieces, who remained unseen. History 1930-1940 The history of Daisy in animation can be traced to the appearance of her precursor, Donna Duck, in the cartoon short Don Donald, directed by Ben Sharpsteen. The plot had Donald courting Donna somewhere in Mexico. His efforts are frustrated and Donna leaves him alone and rides away in her unicycle near the finale. The short is important for introducing a love interest for Donald. but one should note that Donna had little in common with Daisy other than both being female ducks and sharing a temper. Donna was more or less a female version of Donald both in design and voice. Her voice was provided by Clarence Nash and was a slightly higher version of that of Donald. Donna was not intended as a recurring character and the Donald shorts of the following three years featured no female companion for him. 1940-1950 Daisy first appeared with her familiar name and design in Mr. Duck Steps Out (June 7, 1940). The short was directed by Jack King and scripted by Carl Barks. Here, Donald visits the house of his new love interest for their first known date. At first, Daisy acts shy and has her back turned to her visitor. But Donald soon notices her tail feathers taking the form of a hand and signaling for him to come closer. But their time alone is soon interrupted by Huey, Dewey, and Louie who have followed their uncle and out of jealousy compete with him for the attention of Daisy. Uncle and nephews take turns dancing the jitterbug with her while trying to get rid of each other. In their final effort, the three younger Ducks feed their uncle maize in the process of becoming popcorn. The process is completed within Donald himself who continues to move wildly around the house while maintaining the appearance of dancing. The short ends with an impressed Daisy showering her new lover with kisses. In this short, her voice is still like Donna's, a "duck voice" similar to Donald's but pitched higher, which was provided by Clarence Nash. The short stands out among other Donald shorts of the period for its use of modern music and surreal situations throughout. The idea of a permanent love interest of Donald was well established following it. But Daisy did not appear as regularly as Donald himself. Her next appearance in A Good Time for a Dime (May 9, 1941) features her as one of the temptations threatening to separate Donald from his money. The short The Nifty Nineties, directed by Riley Thompson and released on June 20, 1941, featured Mickey and Minnie Mouse in a 1890s setting. Daisy made a cameo following Goofy and alongside Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. This was an indication that Daisy was already a permanent addition to Donald's supporting cast. However, she would make no further animated appearances until Donald's Crime (June 29, 1945). The short featured Donald having arranged a date with Daisy at a nightclub but not having enough money to pay for it. He proceeds to take $1.35 from the piggy bank of his nephews. The crime of the title is theft and the rest of the short focused on Donald feeling guilt. His own imagination provided increasingly disturbing and nightmarish visions of the possible repercussions of his actions and resulted in Donald resolving to return the money. Starting from this short, Daisy was given a normal voice, as opposed to the "duck voice" of Donald's. Her second appearance in the same year was in Cured Duck(October 26, 1945). The short starts simply enough. Donald visits Daisy at her house. She asks him to open a window. He keeps trying to pull it open and eventually goes into a rage. By the time Daisy returns to the room, Donald has wrecked it. She demonstrates that the locking mechanism was on and criticizes his temper. She refuses to date Donald again until he learns to manage his anger. She claims Donald does not see her losing her own temper. Donald agrees to her terms and follows the surreal method of mail ordering an "insult machine", a device constantly hurling verbal and physical insults at him. He endures the whole process until feeling able to stay calm throughout it. He visits Daisy again and this time calmly opens the window. But when Daisy shows her boyfriend her new hat, his reaction is uncontrollable laughter. Daisy goes into a rage of her own and the short ends by pointing out that Donald is not the only Duck in need of anger management training. There is a continuation regarding her temper in "Donald's Dinner Date" from Mickey Mouse Works where she and Donald have a date in a restaurant wherein they both end up with a bad temper. Their relationship problems were also focused on Donald's Double Trouble (June 28, 1946). This time Daisy criticizes his poor command of the English language and his less-than-refined manners. Unwilling to lose Daisy, Donald has to find an answer to the problem. But his solution involves his own look-alike who happens to have all the desired qualities. His unnamed look-alike happens to be unemployed at the moment and agrees to this plan. Donald provides the money for his dates with Daisy but soon comes to realize the look-alike serves as a rival suitor. The rest of the short focuses on his increasing jealousy and efforts to replace the look-alike during the next date. However, a failed attempt at a tunnel of love results in the two male Ducks exiting the tunnel in each others' hands by mistake. Daisy walks out all wet. She jumps up and down and sounds like a record played too fast as Donald and his look-alike run away. Daisy makes a mere cameo in Dumbell of the Yukon (August 30, 1946). but she once again factors on the motivation of Donald. This time he was hunting bears in Yukon, Canada in order to provide Daisy with a fur coat. The cameo involves his daydream of her pleased reaction. Her next appearance in Sleepy Time Donald (May 9, 1947). involved Daisy attempting to rescue sleepwalking Donald from wandering into danger. The Donald is loose in an urban environment and the humor results from the problems Daisy herself suffers while trying to keep him safe. Daisy was also the actual protagonist of Donald's Dilemma (July 11, 1947). The short starts simply enough. Donald and Daisy are out on a date when a flower pot falls on his head. He regains consciousness soon enough but with some marked differences. Both his speaking and singing voices have been improved to the point of being able to enter a new career as a professional singer. He also acts more refined than usual. Most importantly Donald suffers from partial amnesia and has no memory of Daisy. Donald goes on becoming a well-known crooner and his rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" becomes a hit. He is surrounded by female fans in his every step. Meanwhile, Daisy can not even approach her former lover and her loss results in a number of psychological symptoms. Various scenes feature her suffering from anorexia, insomnia, and self-described insanity. An often censored scene features her losing her will to live and contemplating various methods of suicide. She narrates her story to a psychologist who determines that Donald would regain his memory with another flower pot falling on his head but warns that his improved voice may also be lost along with his singing career. He offers Daisy a dilemma. Either the world has its singer, but Daisy loses him, or Daisy regains her Donald, but the world loses him. Posed with the question "her or the world", Daisy answers with a resounding and possessive scream of "Me, Me, Me". Soon Donald has returned to his old self and has forgotten about his career. His fans forget about him. But Daisy has regained her lover. This is considered a darkly humorous look at their relationship. Donald would also face problems resulting from his own voice in Donald's Dream Voice (May 21, 1948). He works as a door-to-door salesman but his customers do not understand a word he is saying. His attempts at politeness are misinterpreted and customers react angrily to imagined insults. But Daisy convinces him otherwise "Don't give up! I have faith in you!" His problems seem to end when Donald buys a box of "voice pills", a medicine temporarily improving his voice. He gets confident enough in his newfound voice to prepare his marriage proposal for Daisy. But due to an accident, he loses all but one of his pills. The rest of the short features his frustrated attempt to regain this last pill in order to propose to her. Something which he is eventually unable to do. After a few minutes of trying to get it, the pill ends up getting swallowed by a cow and makes it able to talk. And tells Donald he can't understand what he's saying. Donald then throws a tantrum. 1950-present Daisy would not appear again until Crazy Over Daisy (March 24, 1950). The short took place in a 1890s setting. At first, Donald seems in a good mood and on his way to his date with Daisy. But when Chip and Dale start ridiculing his appearance the short results in one of their typical fights. Interrupted in the end by Daisy herself who accuses Donald of being cruel to the two "innocent" chipmunks. The short ends with Donald having to forget about that date. Daisy's final animated appearance in the Golden Age of American animation was in the aforementioned Donald's Diary (March 5, 1954). There she is portrayed as a young lady who manages to start a long-term relationship with Donald. But after having a nightmare about the anxieties that would come from married life, Donald runs out on her and joins the French Foreign Legion. Several scenes of the short imply that Daisy has had several previous relationships with men. Donald carves their names on a tree. Not noticing that the opposing side of the tree features her name alongside that of several other boyfriends. The marriage scene in Donald's dream featured a group of sailors waving goodbye to Daisy and mourning the loss of their apparent lover. Daisy's return to theatrical animation came in Mickey's Christmas Carol (October 20, 1983). She was cast as Isabelle, the romantic partner of a young Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck). In 1988, Daisy appeared alongside Minnie, Donald, and Mickey at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony. In 2012, Daisy briefly appeared toward the end of Electric Holiday, a short starring Minnie. Films Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Daisy plays a supporting role in the film. Daisy first appears in the segment "Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas" where Huey, Dewey, and Louie wish for Christmas every day. In the segment, Daisy attempts to kiss Donald under the mistletoe (only for their chance to be ruined by the boys) and make Christmas dinner for the family which she noted is her favorite part of Christmas. Daisy later appears in the last segment "Gift of the Magi" where she works with Minnie in Mortimer Mouse's department store. In this segment, Daisy seems to be far younger as the story may possibly take place in the past. Also in this segment, Daisy has blue eyes as opposed to her usual black. She then appears at the end of the film singing Christmas carols with Mickey and friends. Fantasia 2000 She was featured alongside Donald in the "Noah's Ark" segment of Fantasia 2000. Here, Daisy resides with Donald in their own hub and prepare to board the giant ark to save themselves from the global flood coming their way. While Daisy is boarding the ark, she notices some mice about to get stepped on by Colonel Hathi, until Daisy grabs them. While Donald is loading the animals, he fails to notice Daisy boarding the ark and believes she's still in the hub just as the storm approaches He rushes to save her while Daisy sees him through a window of the ark and sees Donald and a huge wave. She covers her eyes to prevent herself from seeing Donald's death. She fails to notice that Donald jumped onto the ark at the last minute. As Daisy is on the second floor and Donald on the first, they never see each other the entire ark ride and believe each other dead. When the flood clears up, Daisy and the other passengers leave the ark when Daisy finds her love locket to be missing. It was recovered by Donald and as Daisy reaches out for it, she finds Donald. The two reunite and live happily ever after. This is the only time she was voiced by Russi Taylor (the current voice of Minnie Mouse) who did her one scream when Mickey accidentally enters her dressing room while looking for Donald before the segment started. Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers Daisy is Princess Minnie's lady-in-waiting and close friend. Daisy secretly believes Minnie's fantasy of true love is a little ridiculous and believes a princess should be practical. After Captain Pete hires Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as musketeers to protect Minnie and Daisy she is thought to be a bad guy and attacked after things are set straight, she sees Donald developed a crush, but she is not interested. Later, Daisy and Minnie are kidnapped by the Beagle Boys as part of Pete's plans to become king but are saved by Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. At the grand opera, Daisy and Minnie have been attacked again, but this time the Beagle Boys are accompanied by Pete. They are rescued and she reveals her love for Donald and the two are presumed married after the events of the film. This is the only time she is seen with blonde hair as her other appearances will show her with white hair. Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas Daisy reappears in the sequel with a larger role. Daisy first appears in the first segment Bells On Ice where she is a contestant in an ice skating tournament. One of the other contestants is Minnie, who proves to be a glamorous skater with only a few seconds in during her run. Daisy becomes jealous of Minnie's acclaim and begins to steal the light by heading onto the ice and impressing the judges. Minnie begins to become more advanced with her moves, using the alligators from Fantasia. Daisy decides to pull out her secret weapons, the hippos from Fantasia. After many incredible stunts, Minnie accidentally trips on a bell. Daisy rushes to her side and apologizes for her attitude. Minnie gladly accepts and the friends perform a grand finale stunt. Daisy is later seen in Christmas: Impossible, celebrating Christmas with Donald and his nephews at Scrooge's house. In Donald's Gift, Daisy and the boys try to show Donald what Christmas spirit is. Lastly, Daisy has seen aside the rest of the cast, attending Mickey's Christmas party. Other films Daisy made a cameo alongside several Disney characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. She was seen at the very end when the toons begin heading back to Toontown. Television Quack Pack Daisy curiously never appeared on DuckTales, but she was a regular in Quack Pack. In Quack Pack, Daisy is presented as a much more assertive and mature woman, and is working as a reporter for a local television news-magazine "What in the World?", with Donald serving as both her boyfriend and the show's cameraman. Despite working underneath head anchorman Kent Powers, Daisy is a far more capable reporter, a fact that often leaves Kent feeling threatened. She also has a pet iguana named Knuckles who seems to be a brainless omnivore who blithely goes about eating anything from automobile upholstery to priceless works of art. Despite her heightened maturity, Daisy is prone to flights of fantasy, which often lead Donald to disaster in the name of assisting her. Mickey Mouse Works Daisy is a main character in the show and for the first time gets her own series of cartoons. Unlike most of her previous appearances, Daisy is wild, wacky, ignorant and somewhat childish. She often unknowingly annoys Minnie, Mickey, and Donald. In most of her cartoons, she has a comical time with Minnie who in contrast to her is more mature. Aside from this, in some episodes, she is similar to the earlier cartoons. She is often the subject of Donald's affections as he tries to please her the best way he can. For the series, she resides in a beach house. House of Mouse Daisy is the club's reservation clerk. Like Donald, Daisy craves the spotlight and constantly asks Mickey to perform, which he usually denies. On some occasions during an emergency, Daisy does perform, and it's often hated by the Disney character audience. Daisy is also a big fan of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. In a related topic, she often gets starstruck when special guests attend the club often trying to get their autograph before the night's over. Several episodes revolved around Daisy and her antics. She was finally given her debut chance in "Daisy's Debut" but gave up her chance when she realized how Minnie wanted to work closely with Mickey. She also performed a parody of The Enchanted Tiki Room theme entitled The Enchanted Daisy Room in "Suddenly Hades" , and performed a parody of the The Ballad of Davy Crockett entitled Daisy Crockett in "Where's Minnie?" In "House of Magic", Daisy, wanting to go into magic, practices sorcery and accidentally makes the House of Mouse, and all its guests disappear. In the end, Jafar and Iago restore the club and guests. Daisy also appears in the spin-off films Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Daisy also stars in the CGI series starring Mickey Mouse. Daisy is one of the main characters. She is still the girlfriend of Donald and obsessed with fashion as always. She joins Mickey on many adventures and tries to keep Donald's temper at bay. Many episodes revolve around Daisy. One of the most notable is "Secret Spy Daisy". In the episode, Pete plots to steal Clarabelle's secret cookie recipe and Professor Ludwig Von Drake alerts Daisy of the situation. She becomes her spy alias and teams up with Mickey and Minnie to foil Pete. She would later become Secret Spy Daisy on occasion and team up with Minnie's alter ego, Detective Minnie. Another episode centering around Daisy is "The Golden Boo-Boo". In this episode, Daisy becomes Daisy O'Dare in order to retrieve a legendary golden statue known as The Golden Boo-Boo. However, trouble arises when she must compete against the thieving Safari Pete. In Minnie's Bow-Toons, Daisy joins Minnie in her new bow business known as Minnie's Bow-Tique. Here, Daisy and Minnie open a shop where they sell different types of bows. As seen in the first episode "Leaky Pipes", Daisy has yet to master the "art" of bow tying as Minnie did. Daisy can be rather lazy in comparison to Minnie's hardworking stature and because of this, she sometimes tries to find faster ways to get her work done, but she often gets into trouble. Mickey Mouse In this animated series, Daisy returns with the rest of her friends in all-new adventures. Like in previous roles, Daisy is presented as fairly mature, though still sassy. She first appears in the episode "No Service", where she and Minnie are set to have a picnic on the beach with Donald and Mickey. However, the short ends with Donald accidentally becoming nude in public, embarrassing Daisy to the point where the picnic ends up going on without Donald. In "Croissant de Triomphe", Minnie and Daisy work at a French cafe in Paris, though things go wrong when they run out of their signature croissants, forcing Mickey to travel around the famous city to deliver them to Minnie. The first episode in which she had a big/significant role is in "The Adorable Couple". In this episode, Mickey and Minnie try to make Donald and Daisy happy. In "Captain Donald", Daisy, Mickey, and Minnie were very excited to set sail on Donald's boat, much to Donald's dismay. It was revealed in the same episode that Daisy bought a sailor outfit for Donald because she likes a man in uniform. Daisy made a cameo appearance as a bridesmaid at Goofy's "wedding" at the end of "Goofy's First Love". In "No Reservations", Daisy with Minnie and Clarabelle attempt to get into the hottest, yet most impossibly booked restaurant in town. In "Split Decisions", Daisy does not actually appear but is heavily mentioned: the reason Mickey wants Ludwig Von Drake to solve Donald's temper problems is that Daisy has had enough of it and is threatening to leave him if he does not find a cure. Later, when the attempt to cure Donald has gone horribly wrong, Mickey dreams about and interacts with an imaginary Daisy being mad at him for what he's done to Donald. In "Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special", Daisy and Donald are to migrate to the south for the winter with Scrooge McDuck, Ludwig Von Drake, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. At the last minute, Donald chooses to stay behind to celebrate Christmas. Daisy believes he'll join her soon as ducks cannot survive through winter, but she and the others become increasingly worried the longer they wait. After a call to check, Daisy learns that Donald is gravely ill. She rallies Scrooge, Ludwig, and the triplets to rescue Donald, but he soon arrives in the south safely courtesy of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto. Though somewhat angry with his recklessness, Daisy is relieved that Donald is safe. Mickey and the Roadster Racers Daisy appears in the madcap racing series, with a transforming roadster known as the "Purple Snapdragon", which is modeled after the snapdragon plant. She also stars alongside Minnie in the episodes centered around their local "Happy Helpers" hotline business. Other shows Daisy has made a few cameos in the long-running Walt Disney anthology series, as well as a few keys and notable roles in episodes centering Donald such as "This is Your Life, Donald Duck". Daisy appeared in the Mickey Mouse Club opening sequence alongside Minnie. She wears green go-go boots. Trivia * Like Minnie and Clarabelle, Daisy wears a bow on her head and pumps. However, unlike Minnie and Clarabelle, Daisy doesn't have a dress, as her feathers are ruffled in a way to create a dress. Instead, she wears a shirt which serves as a top. Category:Disney characters Category:Walt Disney Characters